Thursday, September 6, 2012

Red Frame Wreath

Woo hoo!  Another project from my visit to my niece Jess and her husband Mike’s casa.  Jess pretty much had a project for me hourly the last few days I was there!  No worries though, I loved it!

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It was a hot but beautiful day, so it was great to be outside! Jess wanted a wreath for her front door, so we had shopped for supplies and made this one.  While we were at the ReStore, I found a square frame for just a few bucks.  We also bought a medium size wreath that I was fairly sure would fit inside the frame. 

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The frame was white; that had to go!  Jess is all about bright pops of color everywhere…so gloss red it was!  I gave it several light coats. 

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We added some burlap ribbon to attach the wreath to the back of the frame. 

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I had used a few coats of clear sealer on the wreath to give it some depth.  We added a single red flower and a few leaves…

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Jess had the idea to hang it on the mirror…not sure I would have thought of that, but it looks great there!

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At first we did not paint the back of the frame but when we hung it on the mirror, it was obvious we needed to do so…

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Looks great and cost no more than $12!

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The funny thing was that inside the frame there was a smaller wooden frame that was wood too…so we painted it red too and put it around an Eiffel tower on the kitchen counter!

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Cement Garden Ball

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Announcing my newest Pinterest-inspired project!

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I pinned this and this a few months ago and have been itching to give it a try!  I didn’t want to use the hypertufa that project called for, so I chose to use plain cement and I want to see if I can get moss to grow on it eventually!  I found (at the ReStore for $2.82) a glass light globe that was perfect!  It has a nice pattern on the inside; I thought it would be great for this project! 

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I purchased three 10# bags of Quikrete ($5.68), mixed it up, and used every bit of it!   I filled up the glass globe and jiggled it around until the bubbles were done coming to the surface.  The goal is to displace all the air so there won’t be gaps in the cement.

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Be assured, it is very heavy at this point, about 30#! So it’s done now, been jiggled and shook and now I must wait! 

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I did have a tiny bit of concrete left, so I wanted to make something else…like this.   I grabbed a plastic pot and a smaller yogurt container, filled the pot and pushed the yogurt container down to its rim into the concrete.  I even added some marbles to the top edge, they immediately sunk down where I could not see them, so we’ll see how that turns out!

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About a day and a half  later, I started breaking the glass off the cement ball.  I put the cement globe in an old Rubbermaid tote and just started chipping away with a hammer, gently. It was messy and dangerous too!

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Safety goggles are a must here.  I did this in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep, had to sweep and wash the deck afterwards because there were pieces of glass everywhere.

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When you break the glass off with the hammer, I would strongly suggest wearing some type of work gloves, because I have a thousand cuts on my fingertips!  Ouch!

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You have to keep at it until all the glass is off.  I think one of the Pinterest cement ball makers used no stick cooking spray on the inside to keep the cement from sticking to the glass.  I didn’t use the spray and didn’t have any trouble with the glass coming off.

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So this is what it looked like after I was done chipping the glass off.  I didn’t like the slick, shiny look.  And here is the little candle holder too…more on that later!

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This is what it looked like the next evening.  Much better! 

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My son carried this chunk all over the yard so I could photograph it in just the perfect spot!  He was thrilled of course!

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The color is so much better, but you can see it is still very dark in the middle of the ball. 

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I am loving it!

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This is the third day…loving it even more!  I think it looks sort of like a sea urchin!

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Looks perfect snuggled in with the flowers…

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Definitely a winning project!! 

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Monday, September 3, 2012

What I’ve been up to this week…

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Making this…more later!

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And painting this cute soap tray.

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Pet sitting for two of the cutest rat terriers you could ever hope to meet!

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And I did a little shopping this weekend…

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This basket from Target is woven from felt strips…hmmm, thinking I could make that!

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and I love this lamp at Hobby Lobby…very bright turquoise color!

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A lovely country lane, shaded by trees lining the roadway.

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Cleaning out and organizing cabinets, shelves, and drawers…some how that always makes me feel more “in control”!

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And I took a long walk along the Katy Trail this evening…needed to think and sort things out. 

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Love this pic, not sure why it looks like a sepia finish, but I love it!

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Do you ever wonder what this looked like to the first people who ever saw it?  What it looked like to the pioneers who followed in their steps? 

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I wonder at what an obstacle a river this wide would be to people on foot, trying to get to the other side.

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I walked almost 8 miles this evening.

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Beautiful way to end a long weekend!

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Sunday, September 2, 2012

Crinkly Taggie Toy

Yup, it’s another baby project…photo (3)

When I was visiting in Colorado, we found these cute tiny taggie squares…and they had something crinkly in them!

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They were a bit pricey too!  So Jess and I went to Mama Said Sew and found some really cute squirrel and acorn soft corduroy, and some vintage velvet ribbon.  Just had to decide what to put inside to make it crinkle. 

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What do these two things have in common?

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This great crinkly bag is inside.  Yes, I used the Cheerios bag to put inside the taggie!  I folded it in fourths and sewed around the edges of the cello so the inside wouldn’t shift when I washed it.  I trimmed the edges and cut out two fabrics for the outsides, sewed the ribbons to the edges of one of the two pieces, sewed them all together with the wrong sides together, turned it right side out and that was that!

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Aren’t those squirrels cute?  Love the greens and blues together!

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Mine is a bit bigger than the one we saw in the store, but it makes a great crinkly noise!!  And it has more velvet tags too!

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The back is a really soft cream colored minky type fabric. 

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Snuggly!

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Brady gives it his seal of approval!

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I am linking to these great parties!

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